Jackson Lewis was in charge and ran the show. He began with a dramatic “Keith, we have in custody the man who killed your father.”
Keith smiled and took a deep breath, but showed no emotion. Given the urgency in throwing together the meeting, he was expecting big news. But nothing could have prepared him for what he had just heard. He nodded and Lewis handed over an enlarged color photo. “Name’s Henry Taylor, from Union City, Tennessee. Cleans carpets for a living, builds bombs for a hobby. Ten years ago he was a member of the Klan and blew up a few black churches back in the day, got indicted at least twice but never convicted. Known in the trade as a hit man who favors explosives.”
“Where is he?”
“We threw him under the jail in Nashville. Interviewed him this morning up there, but he’s not very cooperative.”
Keith managed an even wider smile and said, “Okay, let’s hear it. How’d you find him?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I want every detail.”
* * *
As the briefing was underway, Hugh Malco left his apartment in West Biloxi and was driving to work in his latest sports car, a 1977 Corvette Sting Ray. Two blocks from home, he noticed a city cop behind him in a patrol car. When its blue lights came on he began cursing. He wasn’t speeding. He’d broken no traffic laws. He stopped, jumped out of the car, and was storming toward the officer when he realized the street was being blocked by state troopers. One of them yelled, “Hands up! You’re under arrest!”
At least three handguns were aimed at him as they approached. He slowly raised his hands, got shoved onto the hood of his Corvette, spread-eagled, searched, handcuffed, roughed up a little.
“I swear I wasn’t speeding,” he said.
“Shut up,” a trooper barked.
They half-dragged him to a patrol car, tossed him inside, and left the area in a motorcade. Two hours later, he was taken to the county jail in Hattiesburg and placed in a cell by himself.
Chapter 47
The main courtroom was again chosen for the occasion. Tables and chairs were moved and a podium was arranged close to the bar and facing the gallery. When the doors opened a noisy crowd poured in, led by reporters and cameramen from several news stations—Biloxi, Jackson, New Orleans, and Mobile. They swarmed the podium and stuck their mikes in plain view, then retreated to the back wall with their bulky cameras. A bailiff herded them into one place. Print reporters jostled for the front rows. Other bailiffs pointed here and there and tried to maintain some level of order. Behind the press the gallery filled quickly with courthouse regulars, the curious, associates of the accused, and folks off the street. Lawyers and clerks milled about behind the podium, pleased with their status as members of the court and thus allowed to come and go. When all the seats were taken, one bailiff closed the door while another stood guard in the hallway and turned away the unlucky.
At 10:00 a.m. sharp, early enough to make the noon news, a side door opened and the district attorney emerged, followed by the FBI and state police. No locals were invited to the show. Keith assumed the podium with Egan Clement standing to his immediate left. They were flanked by Special Agents Jackson Lewis and Spence Whitehead, Captain Moffett, and two investigators from the state police.
Keith began with a smile and thanked the crowd for showing up. He was twenty-eight years old, handsome, trim, well-dressed, and very much aware that he was speaking to a wide audience. “Yesterday, the Harrison County Grand Jury, meeting in this very courtroom, indicted three men for the murder and contract killing of our former district attorney, Jesse Rudy. The indictment charges that on August 20 of last year, 1976, Nevin Noll, and Henry Taylor did conspire to commit and did indeed commit the murder of Jesse Rudy. Nevin Noll paid a large sum of money to Henry Taylor to carry out the contract killing. Mr. Taylor is a known underworld character and accomplished bomb-maker. The grand jury charges that the murder for hire was a contract killing carried out by Henry Taylor, and, under Section 98-17-29 of the Mississippi Code, is punishable by death at the state penitentiary at Parchman. The State of Mississippi will seek the death penalty for both men. The defendants were taken into custody last week and are being kept in various jails around the state, but not in Harrison County.”